On the Buster Scale

"On the Buster Scale"
Season/Series:	16
Number in season:	8b
Original Airdate:	May 8th, 2013; May 8th, 2013; April 22, 2013; December 19, 2012;
	Credits
Written by:	Dietrich Smith
Storyboard by:	Ken Cunningham
	Episodes
Previous; "Buster's Book Battle"	Next; "Fern and the Case of the Stolen Story"
	Read transcript

"On the Buster Scale" is the second half of the eighth episode in the sixteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

Buster and Brain never agree on movies. Buster rates every film a 10+, while Brain doesn't seem to like anything. Only one of them can be right…or so they think.^[2]

Plot

The episode begins at the movie theatre, with Arthur, Buster, Brain, Binky, Francine, and Muffy seeing Giant Exploding Robots 3D. Everyone loves it, but Brain is simply bored. He argues with Buster over it afterwards, while Arthur explains there are two things you can count on: Buster and Brain will never agree on a movie, and one of them will not be happy about it.

Although Buster heavily defends the movie, Brain's criticism manages to change Francine, Muffy, and Binky's minds. When Buster's mother Bitzi has to take the job of film critic for the week (since the regular film critic is sick) Buster accompanies her to see the movie in question: Giant Exploding Robots 3D. Buster is just as entertained by the film as he was the first time, while Bitzi doesn't know what to think at all.

Buster helps his mom with the review (she recommends it to eight-year-old boys, not adults) and in response, he gets to write his own review for the movie. Buster's praise of Giant Exploding Robots 3D is enough to convince his friends the movie was good. His review is punctuated with "On the Buster Scale, a 10-plus!!!" Brain is discouraged at this, but Arthur convinces him it was just a one-time thing. This turns out not to be the case, as the newspaper editor loved reading what kids thought. Buster's new job is reviewing movies weekly, and rates all of them a 10-plus. A common theme in the movies Buster reviews is that they all have to do with robots, aliens, monsters, superheroes, and/or explosions in 3D. Brain is more than annoyed, and once he sees a billboard showing Buster's review for Robots vs. Aliens 3, he gets the idea to start his own movie blog.

Brain actually beats Buster to the punch with a certain movie review, and the two once again argue. It leads to the only solution: They each review the same movie, and see which review changes everyone's minds. The movie they both review is Le Murmure de Silence, a French movie with English subtitles and no explosions. When the two ask their friends who's right, they are actually offended because to Buster and Brain, their own opinions don't matter. Arthur says that while he and the others read their reviews out of respect for their opinions, they need to learn to respect other's opinions. The two then agree to disagree (which is the first time they find common ground in the entire episode) and read each other's reviews. The end result is completely unexpected: Buster praised the movie for its sad themes, while Brain criticized it for being sappy and would have much rather seen an explosion.

Characters

Major characters

Minor characters

Background characters

Dave

Technician

Trivia

Despite hating Le Murmure de Silence, Brain considers a black-and-white French film from 1939 his favorite.
Francine, Muffy, and Binky never made up their own minds on any of the movies Buster and Brain reviewed, so it is easy to understand why the two thought their opinions were most important.

Cultural references

The "Light Mass" from the movie from the beginning of the episode might be a parody of the "Red Matter" from Star Trek.
Rafi is played by Cameron Ansell, a former voice actor of Arthur.